DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. IV. 



BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1852. 



NO. 2. 



RAYNOLDS & NOURSE, Proprietors. 

 Office. ...Quincy Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, J Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Editors. 



FARM WORK FOR FEBRUARY. 



Late Spring. — The soft and mild spring weath- 

 er, such as the farmer likes for plowing, plant- 

 ing, sowing, and gardening, is so indefinitely post- 

 poned of late years, that it crowds much of spring- 

 work into early summer, unless we take Old Time 

 by the forelock and accomplish our business with- 

 out much regard to his blustering behavior. 



Now is tue time. — In order to be ready for the 

 sunny days when they do come, we must bestir 

 ourselves now by hauling off the timber to market 

 which has been prepared; chopping wood, and fit- 

 ting it for the fire; by preparing stakes, rails, posts, 

 and all other things that can be done in the way 

 of fences. Bring up pea sticks when returning 

 from the woods, and point and lay aside poles for 

 the bean yard. 



Implements. — Are the tools all in good order ? 

 the plows, harrows, rakes, carts, &c. Is the 

 hay- wagon, or tumbrel, ready for the haying sea- 

 son, when the sound of the whetting scythe is cheer- 

 ful music, while that of the saw and axe has lost 

 all its charms, as being out of time and place, like 

 hoeing in the winter. 



System. — Arrange where your crops shall be, 

 the corn, the oats, the potatoes, and see that seeds 

 of all the kinds you intend to use are in sufficient 

 quantity and in good condition. Make a plan of 

 the garden, marking out your beds for flowers (for 

 our readers cultivate flowers) and kitchen vegeta- 

 bles ; for beans, peas, and the melon and cucum- 

 ber hills. Decide how many and what kinds of 

 fruit trees you will plant, and where you will place 

 them. Add a quince bush here and there in the 

 spots which they love and where they will thrive 

 surprisingly. 



Small Fruits. — A few more raspberry, thimble- 

 berry, currant and gooseberry bushes may be set, 

 if you decide upon a place for them now. They 

 are a profitable article for the market, and will ten 

 times repay the cost in affording a cooling and pal- 

 atable dessert when the appetite is dull during 



the hot weather. They are more wholesome than 

 meat at that season, have a bewitching charm for 

 visitors and children, and cause the latter to re- 

 member the old homestead with feelings of pecu- 

 liar delight in after years. 



All these matters require thought and time ; if 

 you plan them now, you will only have to execute 

 when milder skies and genial suns invite you into 

 the fields, where a thousand things seem to demand 

 your attention at once. 



Stock. — But the stock must not be forgotten. 

 The oxen, horses, cows, pigs and poultry must all 

 "receive their meat in due season." Gravid cows 

 must be especially attended to. Give them liber- 

 ty in a dry and warm place with plenty of litter, 

 a week or two previous to the time of dropping the 

 calf, and there will be little danger of accident. 

 Roots are of special importance to cattle now, as 

 a change from their dry fodder. We have sup- 

 posed that among them all, parsnips and carrots 

 were the best, but Sir Humphrey Davy, we notice, 

 arranges their nutritious properties pound for 

 pound as follow r s — 1, potatoes ; 2, sugar-beet; 3, 

 mangel- wurtzel ; 4, parsnip and carrot ; 5, ruta- 

 baga ; 6, and far behind all others, the round tur- 

 nip. Any of them may be fed with advantage in 

 moderate quantities, but our decided preference is- 

 for the carrot and parsnip. 



Cattle that are fed well, daily carded and kept 

 clean, are seldom annoyed by vermin ; still, an ex- 

 amination should often be made about the roots of 

 the horns, along the back and to the roots of the 

 tail. If they have made a lodgment, a little melted 

 lard applied to the parts mentioned, and thorough- 

 ly rubbed in, will destroy them. At any rate avoid 

 all mercurial ointments. 



Flax. — The good old mode of preparing flax is 

 not obsolete among many of our readers. Towards 

 the close of the r onth, sheltered from cold winds 

 in the sunny floor of the barn, looking out upon 

 the south, fit up the brake, the swingling-board 

 and hatchel, and make merry music to the piping 



